Generally, a phimosis condition in which the glans is covered with the prepuce includes a true or complete phimosis in which the glans is completely covered with the prepuce, a paraphimosis resulting from a small annulus preputialis (or prepuce opening) and a pseudophimosis in which the glans is normally covered with the prepuce, but can be uncovered upon its erection or the like. It has been suggested that the true phimosis and paraphimosis are relevant to various penile diseases such as inflammation due to smegma, infection disease, and possibly penile cancer. Therefore, many males having true phimosis or paraphimosis symptom, in general, need to take medical treatments such as partial prepuce excision, dorsal penis side opening and the like in medical institutions.
On the other hand, the pseudophimosis generally results from an elongated prepuce relative to the length of a penis so that an extremity of the prepuce covers the glans at least partially, even though the opening of the prepuce is relatively large. In the pseudophimosis condition, the glans is externally exposed during erection of the penis. Therefore, although many males of pseudophimosis are conscious of their pseudophimosis symptom, they may not recognize any particular obstruction or inconvenience in their daily or usual life. Thus, such males of pseudophimosis, in general, do not undergo the aforementioned surgery operations such as prepuce excision or the like.
One plimosis curing appliance for pseudophimosis is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 62-172948. This phimosis curing appliance is provided with a phimosis band which includes a circular prepuce biasing means for forcibly retracting the prepuce to a position near the root of a penis. When a patient wears the phimosis curing appliance, his prepuce is biased toward the human body or penile root by the edge of a sleeve opening of the prepuce biasing means.
According to such a phimosis curing appliance of the prior art, which merely biases the prepuce toward the human body, the surplus or excessive portion of the prepuce might be able to be deviated and collected between the penis and the scrotum to be held in its retracted position for a short time. However, the phimosis curing appliance of the prior art merely has an arrangement in that the prepuce is forcibly retracted to the penile root by a frictional engagement of the prepuce with the sleeve of the appliance and is held in its retracted position by locally tightening the penile root. Therefore, this kind of phimosis curing appliance cannot surely prevent the prepuce from returning to its original or covering position when it is worn on the human body for a long time. Furthermore, the diameter of the opening of such a phimosis curing appliance is not easily adjustable in dependence on individual penile diameters. Therefore, the phimosis curing appliance of the prior art cannot be standardized and mass produced. It is thus desired to provide a phimosis curing appliance which can inexpensively be made in mass production.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a phimosis curing appliance which can forcedly retract the surplus prepuce of mainly a pseudophimosis penis toward the penile root area and surely keep the glans in an exposed condition for a long time with a simplified arrangement suitable for standardization and mass production.